Author of the Alchemancer and Assassin Without a Name fantasy series

On July 20 of this year, I wrote a post about why I was going all-in with Kindle Unlimited (KU). KU is one of those things where you don’t know if it’s something that will prove beneficial unless you actually try it. I can now report that I did try it, I did have some success with it, but, ultimately, I personally have not seen a great enough benefit to remain with the program moving forward. Today is therefore the last day the books in my Alchemancer series will remain in the KU program. The remainder of my books will fall out next month.

As a reader, I like the idea of KU and the idea of having an unlimited selection of books to read (yes, I know, some refer to KU as “Kindle Limited,” because the selection is not as good as Amazon will have you believe). However, my schedule does not allow me to read enough to justify the $9.99/month cost. I enrolled in the 2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge, where I committed to reading 50 books in 2014 (I’m currently at 49, so almost there). That’s about 2/month, meaning I’d pay $5/read if I was enrolled in KU. Not bad, actually, but then what if I don’t read 2 books? What if I only read one? I don’t know if I could handle the pressure! Of course, there are a number of short stories and novellas enrolled in the program, so it’d be nice to read those without having to “pay” for them.

As an author, the program started out fair. I was “selling” multiple copies of my Assassin Without a Name shorts and novellas each day, which was kind of nice because I can see some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of recouping some of the costs associated with producing those little gems. Also, I started moving a good number of my novels. In terms of units moved, KU worked out well. But only in the beginning. More on that in a sec.

Then there’s the payment thing. KU works like this: someone downloads a title, but the author isn’t paid until said reader gets past 10% of the eBook. Amazon pays for each read out of a monthly pot. So, each author receives a share, which is basically the total pot divided by the number of reads in the entire program to determine a ‘per read’ dollar figure. The dollar figure for the months I’ve been enrolled has been somewhere in the range of $1.33 – $1.50 (I can’t remember the exact numbers, but it really isn’t important). For a 99 cent short story, this works out great because, before KU, I would get $0.35 per book sold. However, for a $4.99 novel, where I get $3.50 for an actual sale, KU isn’t such a good deal.

NOTE: There’s a bit of back and forth amongst my peers about if a ‘read’ really replaces a ‘buy.’ In other words, just because someone ‘read’ your book via KU doesn’t mean you lost a sale (i.e., that they would have bought it). It’s impossible to know this, so difficult (and pointless) to debate.

The greatest benefit, and the reason I initially was happy with KU regardless of the payout, was that I was moving units. Not thousands or even hundreds, but some, every day and consistently. This was enough to keep me in the program. But then something happened. Right after Thanksgiving, reads dropped off a cliff. Literally. To the point where, this month, I think I’ve had 2 KU reads credited to my account. Fortunately, sales are going pretty well, so this has been offset. But, with no rhyme or reason to the drop-off, and no way to stimulate things back to where they were before, I don’t have any choice but to ‘go wide’ once more and release all of my titles to BN.com, Google Bookstore, iBookstore, Kobo, and others.

This is actually good news, though, because I have been invited by various parties to participate in some fantastic opportunities in the near future. Since Kindle Select requires exclusivity, I need to get out of the program anyway. You know that saying, when one door closes, another opens? That’s pretty much the situation I’m happily in. I’ll have more on these opportunities as soon as things solidify enough for me to talk about them.

In the meanwhile, I’m in the process of restoring the first of my books back to wide distribution whilst saying a fond farewell to Kindle Unlimited. See ya!

Kindle Unlimited is a new program just introduced by Amazon that allows readers to read an unlimited number of Kindle books each month. Think of it as Netflix for books. The cost is $9.99 per month, though if you sign-up now Amazon starts you off with a free 30 day trial.

The ‘all you can read’ subscription based idea isn’t new. Others, like Scribd and Oyster, have been in the game for a short while now. But it says something about the viability and potential of the model given that Amazon has decided to also offer their own version of it. I think if I were Scribd or Oyster, I might be worried. Those services currently contain a wider selection of titles given their license agreements with some of the big publishers, but this is Amazon we’re talking about. With 60% of the eBook market and an army of independent and hybrid authors marching to their beat, Amazon once again has the potential to be a huge industry disruptor.

From an author’s perspective, I’m embracing this new program. Not with all of my titles, but at least with my Assassin Without a Name shorts. That series is not performing well under the usual pay for each title model. Fine Wine and Killing the Dead have been free for a long time; they each rack up the free downloads on an almost daily basis. But I haven’t seen those downloads translate into a measurable amount of paid sales. So, as I write this, those titles, along with Night of Zealotry and The Goddard Affair, have been pulled from all other online retailers and enrolled into KDP Select, which is a requirement of the Kindle Unlimited program. I don’t particularly like the exclusivity requirement, but Amazon remains my number one source of sales by far, so it would be foolish for me to not at least give this new program of theirs a try.

When you get down to it, that’s what enrolling some of my titles—specifically my short ones—into this program amounts to: it’s something I need to explore. If it works out, great. If not, I learn what I can from the experience and move on to the next, big thing. Who knows? The subscription model may become the way the majority people of people consume books. In that case, I’m already at the forefront.

2011/12/2 Update: Big thanks to the Amazon rep who reached out to me after I tweeted my issue with uploading The Five Elements to KDP as well as to Amazon's engineering staff. It looks like there was a combination of things going on here, but all is well now. I was able to upload the latest version of my book after a software glitch was fixed and the rep ran through some things which ultimately showed the error as being a false positive.

2011/12/1 Update: I've tried many formats: .docx, .doc, .rtf, .html. None work. I even tried uploading an old version of my document since it *did* work previously. Even that won't upload/convert. Bummer. I sent the rep the .doc file that was previously working to pass on to their engineers. Hope they find something.

2011/11/29 Update: A representative from Amazon saw the tweet I posted giving a shout-out to this post and contacted me via email. We went back and forth a few times, the end result being that while Amazon thought they had the problem fixed I'm still unable to successfully submit anything through the KDP interface.

I've been trying to upload the latest version of The Five Elements to the Kindle store for the past day and a half, but keep getting an error stating there has been a conversion error.

Not particularly helpful, and entirely unexpected considering I haven't changed the format of my submission. In fact, that exact format has worked flawlessly for some time now.

I'm assuming Amazon is having some issues on their end. I'm not the only one experiencing this issue, either. Unfortunately, the error is so generic there are many reasons one might hit upon it, legitimate or not.

Given that we're just coming out of Thanksgiving weekend, I'm going to give Amazon's guys a break here. This post is really just to document the error for my benefit or yours. Hopefully they get back in bright and early tomorrow and take care of the problem.

Flashback to that time period, when the iPad had been released only months earlier and was widely being hailed as a "Kindle-killer". The Kindle was suddenly no longer hip with its primitive looking black and white display and no touch capability. Even the Barnes & Noble nook debuted with some touch functions and with limited color (on the lower browse screen).

Kneale's statement was in response to the populist opinion of the time that the Kindle was on its way out in favor of the superior experience provided by the iPad. In other words, Amazon would have to give away the Kindle for free in order for them to save the product. While it's true the iPad provides a much wider array of functionality, the Kindle is far from dead and, in fact, is now widely considered a far better device for reading than the iPad.

Still, Kneale's proposal doesn't seem all that farfetched, especially in light of some recent happenings. The first and most significant is Amazon offering free TV and movie streaming to Amazon Prime members. Amazon Prime started as a premium, member-oriented service that offered free 2 day shipping at a cost of $79 annually. Suddenly Amazon Prime is much more than just a free 2 day shipping gimmick. The potential is huge.

Let's take a quick step back to June, 2009. John Walkenbach of the J-Walk Blog posted an interesting chart showing a linear decrease in the price of the Kindle. After Kneale made his "free Kindle" comment one year later, Walkenbach posted again, updating his chart with the then latest Kindle price cut. Here it is for reference:

Walkenbach predicts that at this rate the Kindle "will be free in the second half of 2011". This sounded ridiculous at first. Sure, the Kindle is at best a break-even product. Possibly even a loss-leader, with Amazon making most of its profit from the sale of eBooks. Considering the cost to manufacture the Kindle 2, how in the world could they ever give it away and still make money? This is where Amazon Prime comes in.

Imagine Amazon charging the same $79/year (or more, most likely) for free 2 day shipping and free TV/movie streaming whilst topping it off with a free Kindle. I'd foresee a time commitment similar to a cell phone plan or a commitment to purchase a certain number of eBooks/month, sort of like a Book of the Month club. This would be nothing for an avid reader, most Kindle owners fitting into that category quite nicely I would think.

Apparently I was good last year, because Santa brought me a Kindle for Christmas.

My overall opinion of the Kindle: I love it. So much so that given the option of buying an eBook over a traditional book, I'll take the eBook every time.

The following are some initial impressions. Note the word "initial". My opinions of these items might change in the future; it'd be interesting to revisit this topic maybe a few months from now when I've really had a chance to give the Kindle a good trial period.

Dimensions/Weight

The device is small—much smaller than I had anticipated even though I knew the dimensions ahead of time (the exact dimensions from Amazon's web site are 8" x 5.3" x 0.36", or 203.2mm x 134.6mm x 9.1mm)—and light, weighing in at 10.2 ounces (289.2 grams).

Comfort Factor

How often have you heard people saying how much they love curling up with a good book? I like that, too, except I'm now doing it with my Kindle. In an easy chair, my Kindle rests nicely in my lap/against my leg. In bed, about the same. Either way, because the device is so light, it rests comfortably in one hand. Turning pages with the device in one hand is as easy as a click of the thumb. There are "Next Page" buttons on either side, making page turning very convenient.

Performance

I recently read a blog post where the poster decried how slow the page turning on Kindle is. I'll be damned if I can find it, though, or I'd provide a link. Here's the post. I've found just the opposite: the Kindle turns pages in less than a second. I can't explain the disparity. Pulling up full dictionary entries is a little slow (Kindle gives you a quick definition almost instantly) and, as might be expected, accessing the Kindle Store varies based on the speed of the 3G connection at the time. Still, once you're on, I experienced very little lag when going from one item to the next.

The E Ink Display

The eInk screen is amazing. When I first unboxed my Kindle I peeled away a clear, protective covering that covered the front of the entire device. There was another film—this with basic instructions for activating the Kindle—over the screen itself, or so I thought. As I went to peel it away I realized that what I thought was a film of printed instructions was actually instructions on the screen itself. The clarity is a thing of beauty. There is no flicker (eInk displays do not refresh like traditional CRT's or LCD's) and the crispness of the characters and text is of no less quality than an actual printed page. I've read for hours without any eyestrain issues. I could probably read all day and not have any problems.

Battery Life

Battery life is a non-issue. I've been using it for days—off and on of course—and the battery level has barely budged. I'm keeping the wireless off, which extends battery life even longer. I believe the Kindle with the 3G wireless off will go for over a week without a charge.

5-way Controller

The 5-way controller (the little joystick-like thing) is a nice navigation device, but it's a bit difficult getting a hold of it. It barely rises above the plane of the device (probably a good thing otherwise you might accidentally break it off), but because of that it's sometimes hard to manipulate. I've been kind of getting the tip of my nail on it, which seems to work ok. I guess what I'm afraid of is pushing down on it (the fifth 'way') when I really just want to move the cursor over.

Built-in Dictionary

The built-in dictionary is a nice touch. Just move the 5-way controller to the word you want to retrieve a definition for and a short definition appears at the bottom of the screen. You can then press one of the small keys at the bottom of the device to get a full-page, more thorough definition.

Bookmarks and Annotations

Bookmarking and adding annotations is easy. Bookmarking is achieved with the press of a button. Likewise, adding notes/annotation is just as easy: just use the 5-way controller to navigate to a word and start typing.

Probably the coolest thing about annotations and bookmarks: with the introduction of Kindle for PC, I have instant access to all of my bookmarks and annotations while I'm on my laptop. All Kindle applications (Kindle for PC, Kindle for iPhone) are automatically synched with my Kindle eReader. eBooks, bookmarks, annotations, even my current reading location are all synched across the full spread of Kindle devices/apps for which I have registered. What this means for me is that annotations and bookmarks I add while reading on my Kindle will automatically show up in the Kindle for PC app, so when I'm writing up a book review I have instant access to all of my thumbnail information. No more bending pages or writing down page numbers.

Free PDF Conversion

Kindle supports native viewing of PDF's now, which basically means you can copy PDF's to the device and view them without any conversion. The problem I found with this is your average page in a PDF is not formatted correctly for viewing on an eReader. An initial experiment yielded a page where the type was so small it was unreadable. Not only that but it cut off lines at the bottom, or chopped them in half, anyway. You cannot resize fonts when viewing PDF's.

There is a cure for this: Amazon offers free PDF to AZW (Kindle format) conversion. Also, Kindle reads MOBI/PRC format natively, also. Another way to deal with this is to use calibre, a free, open-source eBook management application. calibre supports the conversion of many eBook file formats, one of which is MOBI. Kindle can read MOBI format natively, though I'll sub-note this for now with the disclosure that I have not tried this process out myself yet to see how Kindle renders MOBI files. The best option I've found for converting files to MOBI/PRC format is the free Mobipocket eBook Creator software. MOBI/PRC files (the file formats are the same though they do have different file extensions) look just fine on the Kindle, and Mobipocket Creator seems to produce the best MOBI/PRC formatted files.

Conclusion

Like I said at the start, these are only initial impressions. I think I'll revisit this topic in maybe 6 months if not sooner just to see if my opinion of any of these points has changed.

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